Child's Play
by theluckyduckling
Summary: In which the team is reminded of just how special their resident genius is.


**I believe in giving credit where credit is due. That being said, this was inspired by **_**Focus**_** by Ykari, as well as the bubble wrap currently sitting on my desk. **

**This takes place sometime in the earlier part of season 2. This is my first foray into writing for this show, so keep that in mind.**

**Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and the characters are not mine. Both are the property of the writers and creators of CBS.**

* * *

Child's Play:

Pop.

Pop.

Hotch prided himself in his ability to keep his emotions under control, to maintain an air of professionalism, even when he was facing inner turmoil. It came with the territory of being unit chief.

Pop.

Pop.

But, that was before today and before a certain subordinate of his decided that playing with packaging material would be a perfectly good way to pass the time until the end of the work day.

Pop.

Pop.

Hotch did not know how much longer he would be able to resist the urge to strangle his youngest agent. It was a slow day in the office, no serial killers were running rampant in the country, so all the members of the team were working on consultations and other such paperwork. Having gotten tired of staring at the same four walls in his office, Hotch had set up shop in the bullpen at an empty desk.

Pop. Pop.

But, he had stopped writing long ago to observe his youngest profiler's actions.

Pop. Pop.

Reid had been playing with Bubble Wrap for the better part of the last hour. Unsurprisingly, he had long ago finished his paperwork, even the files Morgan and Greenaway had snuck into his pile while he had gotten up to get another cup of coffee. But, seeing as it was only a little after two, the young agent still had to stay until the official end of the work day for debriefing.

To the chagrin of his supervisor, he had taken up playing with the packing material as a means of distracting himself. All of the boy's attention was currently drawn into popping the synthetic bubbles. He seemed to be following some distinct pattern, but from his position on the other side of the bullpen, Hotch couldn't see exactly what pattern. Not that it mattered, really.

Reid seemed to be fascinated by the plastic packaging material. It reminded Hotch of the behavior of a puppy given a new chew toy. The way Reid was focusing on the bubble wrap made it seem like he had never seen it before in his life. His eyes were wide, shining with a child-like wonder. It made Hotch smile.

Still, the incessant popping noise was grating on the unit chief's ears and Reid wasn't showing any signs of stopping in the near future. The large pile of Bubble Wrap on his desk made that clear. Where the boy had found it, God only knew.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Hotch was beginning to strongly consider whether or not to take the Bubble Wrap and muffle his subordinate with it. He had connections in the Bureau, they could write it off as an unfortunate accident.

The team had arrived back at Quantico late last night, and a crying baby at home had not helped the unit chief catch up on missed sleep. For that reason, he was a little more irritable than usual, and Reid's current choice of self-entertainment was not helping.

Pop. Pop.

Pop. Pop.

"Reid."

Apparently, Morgan also found it difficult to concentrate on his consults with the young agent's antics. He was staring at Reid, his hand tightly curled around his pen. A glance around the bullpen showed that Greenaway was also interested in what the unit's resident genius was doing. JJ, who had also set up a workspace in the bullpen, was watching Reid as well, with an amused grin.

At the sound of his name, Reid looked up from his desk and glanced in Morgan's direction. "Yeah?" It was all Hotch could do to not let out a noticeable sigh of relief as the young agent momentarily stopped his popping.

"Are you good, man?" Morgan asked.

Reid leaned back in his chair, confusion written all over his face, as he frowned. "What do you mean?" He glanced around to see the rest of the team watching him closely.

The older agent motioned at the bubble wrap in the doctor's hands. "What's with the bubble wrap?"

Reid frowned at him for a few seconds, before he replied, "Did you know that Bubble Wrap was originally called Air Cap? It was created in 1957 by engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, who first marketed the material as a textured wallpaper. However, it didn't go over well with consumers, and they attempted to sell it as greenhouse insulation – ."

"Reid-." Hotch tried to cut in, but was quickly brushed off as aforementioned agent continued talking.

" – It wasn't until IBM needed something to protect the shipments of their new 1401 Data Processing System in 1960 that the material became popular, eventually being used in shipments and packaging worldwide."

"That's great, Reid, but that wasn't what I was asking." Morgan said, his attempts to hide the exasperation in his voice failing.

Though, his tone of voice didn't seem to affect the young doctor at all. The sarcasm went completely over his head. "Then, what were you asking about?"

"Where the hell did you get that stuff, Kid?" The dark-skinned agent asked.

"Oh, it was in the shipping package from the new coffee machine in the breakroom." Reid replied.

Morgan sighed, having forgotten how literally the boy could take things. "I mean, _why_ are you playing with that stuff, Reid? Didn't you play with bubble wrap as a kid?" He asked, seeming to have come to the same conclusions as Hotch – that the young doctor had never played with the plastic packaging material growing up.

Reid nodded his head. "I did." He said, shocking both Hotch and Morgan. "Mom didn't trust any packages that were delivered to the house, so I always opened them. It was a good form of entertainment when she was in one of her episodes and I didn't want to risk leaving her alone to go get more books from the library." Ever since the Fisher King case, Reid had gotten slightly more comfortable bringing up his mother in conversations.

"Why are you playing with it now, though?"

"It's an excellent stress reliever." Reid answered without skipping a beat. "A survey by Sealed Air Corporation, a company trying to exploit the stress-relieving properties of Bubble Wrap, found that one minute spent popping Bubble Wrap relieves as much stress as a 33-minute massage. People who pop Bubble Wrap are 7% less likely to be stressed out by missing a flight, 4% less likely to be bothered by a hotel losing their reservation, and 6% less likely to worry about their health." He said, all the while resuming his ministrations. "Supposedly, the benefit of popping Bubble Wrap is that unlike yoga or meditation, it's instant gratification. And, 44% of men and 35% of women say quicker is better when it comes to relieving stress."

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

Gideon, who had been working diligently in his office, looked up from his work at the change in sound coming from outside in the bullpen. Standing up, he walked through his open door and onto the catwalk.

Reid was no longer popping the Bubble Wrap. Hotch, Morgan, JJ, and Greenaway had all joined him, each having their own square of the material. The young genius was returning to his desk, after having given each member a piece, a smile on his face.

It was moments like these during which Gideon often found himself surprised at his protégé's child-like innocence and optimism. By the tender age of twenty-one, Reid had learned more about the horrors of the world than most adults ever did or would. Yet, he did not have a jaded view of the world, he continued to see the best in people.

Reid was the light in a dark tunnel. He truly was something special.

Gideon smiled and went back to his desk.


End file.
